Rainbow Warrior in relief effort

IssueSeptember 2006
Feature

Greenpeace reported in mid August that they had delivered more than 75 tons of essential medical supplies to Lebanon by sea, following a joint operation between the international environmental campaign group and Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Three voyages were made by the Rainbow Warrior between Larnaca in Cyprus and Beirut. The humanitarian cargos consisted of relief equipment, including medical equipment, dialysis material, drugs, hygiene kits and fuel.

Greenpeace are also working in the region to deal with the cleanup from oil spills. An estimated 11-40 million litres of heavy oil are believed to have leaked into the sea following the bombing in July of the Jieh coastal power station, 28km south of Beirut, by the Israeli navy. Its also believed that oil may have leaked from an Israeli frigate after being hit by a missile.

Greenpeace said their environmental impact assessment teams are helping gather the information needed to deal with the environmental cost of the war.